Ball throwing devices are useful as practice devices in games that involve hitting a ball such as baseball, softball, cricket or tennis.
Prior art devices for throwing balls and supplying balls to throwing machines are well known. Examples of such devices are shown in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,217 to Raty PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,076 to Perry PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,003 to Sainsbury PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,810 to Brophy PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,749 to Giovagnoli PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 202,301 to Taltavull
Raty discloses a device that requires a human attendant to be standing by in order to aim the device and keep it supplied with balls.
Brophy discloses a baseball dispensing device that supplies balls at timed intervals to a ball throwing machine.
The remaining patents disclose ball throwing mechanisms that use a complex arrangement of gears and cams to achieve delayed release of the balls. Many of the devices require an electric motor or similar power source to operate.
Ideally, a ball throwing machine should provide a player with a tireless partner that supplies balls as desired at a selected trajectory so that the player can develop or improve his hand-eye coordination. It is important that the ball throwing machine have means to delay release of a ball once the throwing machine is activated to give the user time to get ready for the ball. In this regard, remote operation of the ball throwing apparatus is desirable so that the player can be standing in a ready position some distance away from the apparatus.
The ball throwing apparatus of the present invention can provide all of these desirable features and provides a simple and reliable ball throwing apparatus that can be operated by a single person from a distance. Unlike prior art devices, the apparatus of the present invention requires no motorized actuating means. In addition, the ball throwing apparatus of the present invention uses a unique means for delaying release of the ball to be thrown comprising a slow leaking suction cup element that can be adjusted to vary the delay time. The apparatus is adjustable so that the speed and trajectory of the ball being thrown can be varied.